1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a projection apparatus and a method for activating a projection apparatus, more particularly to a projection apparatus that can be quickly activated and a method for quickly activating a projection apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As multimedia presentations become ever more popular, while performance of projectors continues to improve and prices of projectors continue to drop, the market for projectors is growing. Manufacturers are striving to develop a market for commercial projectors. In addition, projectors provide a good choice for home theater systems as images projected thereby are large in size.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional projection apparatus includes a control unit 11, a video input unit 12, a memory unit 13, an illuminating unit 14, an optical unit 15, an imaging unit 16, and a lens unit 17. The control unit 11 manages the operation of the conventional projection apparatus. The video input unit 12 receives a plurality of video sources. The memory unit 13 stores an activation program 131 therein. The illuminating unit 14 includes a light source 141, and a light source driving module 142 operable to drive the light source 141 to provide an illumination beam 140. The optical unit 15 is disposed on an optical path of the illumination beam 140 to guide the illumination beam 140 into the imaging unit 16, and includes a color wheel 151, a motor driver 152 operable to drive rotation of the color wheel 151, a light combining unit 153 (e.g., an integrator rod), and at least one optical element 154. The imaging unit 16 includes an imaging module 161, and an imaging driving module 162 operable to drive the imaging module 161 to modulate the illumination beam 140 received from the optical unit 15 into an image beam 160. The lens unit 17 is disposed on an optical path of the image beam 160 to project the image beam 160.
With further reference to FIG. 2, a method for activating the conventional projection apparatus includes the following steps:
In step 901, the conventional projection apparatus is turned on such that the control unit 11 is activated after electrical power is supplied thereto.
In step 902, the control unit 11 retrieves the activation program 131 from the memory unit 13 for executing an activating thread 111.
In step 903, the control unit 11 controls driving of the light source 141 of the illuminating unit 14 by the light source driving module 142 during execution of the activating thread 111.
In step 904, the control unit 11 waits for an acknowledgement from the light source driving module 142 regarding whether the light source 141 successfully provides the illumination beam 140 as the activating thread 111 goes into an idle loop. If the light source 141 is successful in providing the illumination beam 140, the flow proceeds to step 905, where the light source driving module 142 transmits a feedback signal to the control unit 11. If the idle loop has elapsed for a predetermined amount of time, e.g., 3 seconds, and the control unit 11 has not received the feedback signal from the light source driving module 142, the flow goes back to step 903, where the control unit 11 once again controls the driving of the light source 141 by the light source driving module 142.
Subsequently, in step 906, the control unit 11 controls initialization of the imaging module 161 of the imaging unit 16 by the imaging driving module 162. If the conventional projection apparatus is a digital light flowing (DLP) projector, the imaging module 161 can be a digital micromirror device (DMD), and the imaging driving module 162 can be a corresponding chip, such as a DAD1000 chip.
Next, in step 907, the control unit 11 transmits a splash logo signal, e.g., corresponding to a trademark for a manufacturer of the conventional projection apparatus, to the imaging module 161 such that the imaging module 161 modulates the illumination beam 140 into the image beam 160 that corresponds to a splash logo image, which is subsequently projected by the lens unit 17. At this point, execution of the activating thread 111 is completed.
It normally takes more than five seconds from turning on of the conventional projection apparatus before the splash logo image is projected. This slow speed is the result of the activating thread 111 going into the idle loop when the control unit 11 waits for the feedback signal from the light source driving module 142, and the control unit 11 continuing the rest of the activating thread 111 only after the feedback signal is received. Consequently, there exists a need for a fast (e.g., within two seconds) way to activate a projector.